Unbelievable. A deadlined vehicle should *NEVER* be deployed. The maintenance chief for that unit holds a large amount of blame for that, if my knowledge serves. No egress training, and 2 Marines not even swim qualified? How?? You’d think that’s the first thing to check or cover before letting anyone even on board
The issue is the fact that the AAV from the 1970s had been sitting along with dozens and dozens next to the Sea. The reason they were not in service is because there was no money for parts and even worse than that not enough personnel could do the repairs and the upkeep. Evidently we love to leave all our best equipment with the enemy. Like I said the top brass at Pendleton are responsible for the murder of these beautiful young boys Marines without training and stress in particular in the water for this sort of thing to have happened I will never give up speaking in form I can find on the derelict of the top brass at Camp Pendleton rotten to the core and stolen valor. My granddaughter is married to a Marine stationed Camp Pendleton and along with her two little baby boys. Now when I was raising my kids I was a grizzly bear with my Cubs. And now as a great grandmother of two little tiny baby boys I've been upgraded to a Polar 🐻! The only mammal on the planet that will take her time find or prey and eat it she doesn't care that you're alive she's got a feed her Cubs! Semper Fidelis 🇺🇲🕊️.
I was a Marine with 3/6 Kilo and I spent a lot of time in the back of those AAVs. On certain occasions they would have extra Marines riding with us and it was packed. I'm sure the Marines were absolutely hesitant to drop their gear since it's engrained on day one that gear retention/accountability is a really big deal. Also, we never had any training with regard to evacuating these things other than dropping the ramp.
I was a comm man for Tracs in Okinawa. Comm never worked once you hit the water. I went on many a swim (operation) and it always shocked me how some of the most hardened grunts/recon vets would clam up once they were buttoned up inside a Trac. On a swim, locked in there, it is very unsettling. Guess it didn’t bother me since I did it so much. They sure were glad once we hit the beach. Those poor guys. They should have popped the overhead hatches, and got the hell out. Horrible death. Heads should roll. 35 year old Trac….WTF!
Exactly why didn't they get out because they panicked. They hadn't had any stress training nothing so they didn't know how to respond they're in the dark, they've got all your gear on and they're being bumped all over the places there's no insulation in them and it start taking on water fast. And when I got a hold of the commanders aid I said pass this message on that Commander derelictive duty rotten to the core and everything is done has been stolen valor from now on. And he will always be a disgrace to the United States Marine Corps. And I got that office in two phone calls although I did sidetracking speak with another officer who didn't respond but listened I should be. Semper Fidelis 🕊️🇺🇲 Can you imagine those boys Marines without stress training in the water going down thousand feet? As a mother that's lost a son I can't even fathom being alive if that had happened to my son. But for every person that sits back and never makes a move or says anything to the right people that this was a derelictive duty and the 2,000 page letter blaming everybody except the commander in charge of the whole damn facility should be ashamed of themselves. Because once a marine always a Marine one for all and all for what think about it could have been you someone that you love going down a thousand feet in a 30-ton that have been sitting for a year right next to the water, had very little oil in it smoking and didn't get too far before it started taking on water but far enough that the island under that drop off it goes down a thousand feet.
@@truthneverchangeswakeup2762The Corps should have gotten a few hulls and turned into dunk tank trainers, like they do helos, a long time ago.Set them up in a ppol with wave and wind generators for Marines to practice getting out of them in an emergency. Hopefully, they'll do this with the AMTRAC replacements.
Leadership failures. RIP to these Marines and let’s not let this ever happen again. Crews need to be trained in water egress in blackout conditions like helicopter crews are
@@1people1country63 If they were trained properly, all that "f..en" gear they had on would have been removed the moment they realized there was water up to their ankles, and they would egressed long before it was chest height. But nope, once it was way too late, only the vehicle commander and 2 others were able to climb out, after that the aav went nose up because the troop compartment was filled already. The commander probably would have saved some lives if he wasn't trying to save a 35 year old rusty shitbox aav.
Omg rip. I am not in the military but my ex was an aav captain and I know they did so many safety exercises to prevent/anticipate this sort of thing. I don’t understand how this vehicle was in service, how this could happen, or why they weren’t immediately evacuated. How awful!
I worked at this battalion and when I was in (2009-2013) we had two Marines die in training accidents, Sgt Rice drowned in the jetty but got all of his students out, Cpl Nicholas Sell (21 years old) he didn’t make it out of an AAV fire. Very dangerous job
@mikedz9985 I was there 09-13 as well. I remember sitting on top of a tractor watching the recovery of Rice's vic hoping he would make it but knowing it was too late. I was Sell's Cpl when he hit the fleet. Didn't hear about him until after I left.
There were people held responsible and more than one Marine officer lsot their job as a result of this tragedy. But I don't think that the head rollings went far enough up the chain of command though.
why did vehicle commander go into the water with deadlined vehicle? Track leader (company gunny) knew what? Platoon commander? Company Commander? Battalion Commander? All the way to the top. Where was safety boat? Status of ALL tracks? holding hearings is good but results from hearing are also important
From what I've read, there was pressure from high up (MEU commander?) to have tracks running, apparently there was no concern over condition or status, just to have X number of vehicles. There was no safety boat due to a lack of communication. Both the MEU commander(?) and the amphib skipper though the other had arranged for safety boats so none were there. Then to compound matters, the Amtrac that eventually sank had been left behind on the beach to take care of the oil leak, in the meanwhile, the amphib had secured from from beach operations and had switched to air recovery ops even though they were not supposed to do that until every last Amtrac was on board.
they didnt do exactly as trained. Crew Negligence. Vehicle commander has final say if a vehicle goes in the water. it shouldn't matter if POTUS directly orders him to put it in the water if its Deadline'd its Deadline'd. and all the leadership never left the beach the whole time all of this went down.
I never got training on what to do in this situation, but you figure they would have popped the hatch. Can you imagine dropping gear while you’re practically on top of each other?
How you going to put my boys in an aav that are not swim qualified nor have the ability to egress in a disabled aav. Furthermore you got a deadline piece of Hardware that should have never even went in the water in the first place. Even with a comprehensive overhaul it should have never went in. That violates the most cardinal rule of Readiness exercise program what the hell is going on in our military
@@ProjecthuntanFish that does signal the very top people don't care about the people below which does sounds like a dying corrupt empire having said that in the USA things can be turned around.Unlike the UK which lost its tax base==Empire haha
You'd think US Commanders would have learned by Normandy and Guadalcanal. This has happened countless of times. Not to mention this will bring into question of having AAV in first place. A slow moving target on beach.
The Marines top will put all of the blame on the younger Marines. Thats there pattern. Look at first Raiders, false allegations after years marine top officer made a small sentence that they did everything right. Top brass destroyed so many Marines to protect themselves
My Condolences to Those Marine Brothers lost at Sea , I recall When I was Training, The Trak Behind Us The Engine stopped and They Became a Dead Stick We ended up Towing the Dead trak back to ship, Ill never forget it as I Starred out the Portal Because I knew if they took on water , It would possibly be the end for Third Squad, and Us Second Squad..God Bless The Marines Oooooraaahh
I have been following this since it happened. I'm going to preface with my father was a marine and we lived in Oceanside when I was a kid I was born in 1952. I have reported this on every media that I can find and I'm very resourceful. I asked people to please do the same thing because the commander at the time I actually got a hold of his office and spoke with his college boy aid. Derelict Of duty, the Commanders and top brass at Camp Pendleton and as far as I'm concerned there are responsible for the murder of these wonderful brave Marines. The one thing I want to finish with is although these boys made it thru 13 weeks of training. Graduated to be a Marines but do to the fact that they had no stress training was absolutely a derelictive duty. Thee Commanders and everybody up in the top will and forever will be rotten to the core, Any nettles or awards will always be forever Stolen Valor! As I write this my granddaughter and her little tiny baby boys are stationed at Camp Pendleton because their father a United States Marine. Semper Fidelis 🕊️🇺🇲
@@roseforeuropa Thank you at least you read it. Hopefully you're never in that position in a 30 ton amphibious vehicle going down a thousand feet while you're in the dark and if you've ever been in an amphibious vehicle there's no padding. Thousand feet down you implode dude!
@@truthneverchangeswakeup2762 It's your wall of text combined with bad formatting and sentence structure, not the content that makes this a really tedius read.
It’s been a while since I went through AAV egress but I believe it’s ankle depth, drop gear and get ready to egress and and knee depth it’s egress. I was told from a buddy that they weren’t giving that untill above waste deep
Right, and to be a Tracker you had to be a first class swimmer. At least when I was in. But most grunts in the Marines only had to tread water for 10 minutes to be qualified.
True, but egressing from a sinking AAV with full gear, and 12 other Marines fighting to get out is an entirely different environment. Chances are it was dark, and the vehicle may have changed orientation. Nevermind the possibility that everything went from normal to chaos in a split second.
@@jamessephar9458 I was in a track company and spent a lot of time riding in the back of these things. They're cramped, dark, and the JP fuel burns your eyes. Thankfully we never took on water, but it would have been a really panic situation if that had happened. Also, I think most of those guys were probably hesitant to drop their gear since that's gear retention/accountability is a very big deal in the Marine Corps. Terrible situation.
What a tragedy. this should never have happened. What a waste. So sad. You would hear of stupid stuff costing lives in war, even worse during peace. RIP Marines.
It’s almost like our troops have to suffer for corrupt and inefficient and incompetent spending on the military. Amtracs like this should have been phased out. I know I’ve seen AAV-7’s used in 1982 when the Argentines invaded the Falklands
this should've been in a big pool under controlled environments, not in the middle of the fucking ocean. its truly sad to see so many pass away due to the errors of others.
The vehicle should never been allowed to go out with the numerous mechanical issues. I think the maintenance Officer or SNCO should have deadlined the vehicle
Perhaps instead of firing leadership that allows or encouraged important safety rules to be broken, just perhaps, a cigarette 🚬 and a blindfold would send a stronger warning ⚠️
God rest every soul lost that day. One question... Could common sense also play a factor into the loss of men that day? Because lack of common sense AND training causes death.
And to any parents moms in particular that read this I want you to know that for that year the defense budget was $731 billion dollars. And they've had two failed projects when it comes to amphibious vehicles. Where the hell is that money going to I lost my 23-year-old son 7 years ago and I am the daughter who may and I grew up on Camp Pendleton till I was 10 years old. And I still continue to find every opportunity to call up any top grass in the and then Marine Corps as being rotten to the core and Stolen Valor. You were responsible for the murder of these boys. They were Marines they should have come back and been trained with stress testing. And not having been given that opportunity they were helpless to save themselves no matter what you try to feed the public. Semper Fidelis 🇺🇲🕊️
Question, why is a hippie talking about military accidents, if he's never been in the arm forces he ain't got no business brown nosing divulging military accidents/incidents
